Cross and icon help pilgrims prepare spiritually for WYD

by PATRICK J. BUECHI

Wed, May 18th 2016 09:00 am

Staff Reporter

Nearly 50 World Youth Day pilgrims make the 15-mile march from St. Brendan's on the Lake Parish in Newfane to Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Lewiston. The pilgrims spent nearly nine hours walking to prepare themselves for the hiking they will do in Krakow, Poland this July. (Patrick J. Buechi)

A cross and icon
of the Blessed Mother, gifts from a Polish bishop to the Buffalo Diocese, have
served as tools for local pilgrims preparing for World Youth Day in Krakow. Like
the popular pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima, the cross and icon have
traveled from house to house, allowing the pilgrims and their families to pray in
front of it, asking for a safe and fruitful journey.

Father Jozef Dudzik,
one of two local recipients, has used his icon to unite his parish. A veteran
of World Youth Day, Father Dudzik has turned the parish's monthly youth Mass
into a WYD Mass with a band, flags and a special candle. There, pilgrims learn
about the history of the international event and recite the prayers and hymns
to be used during the July 26-31 event. Pilgrims also pass the cross and icon
from one household to the next. Each family holds the items for one month to
pray before it, and prepare spiritually for the Polish pilgrimage.

"They take it from the
church after World Youth Day Mass here on Sunday we have once a month, then
they bring it back for the next month and give it to the next family," said
Father Dudzik. "We (have the Masses) for all the parish. It's like a parish
event. Everybody enjoys, supports and prays for the sake of World Youth Day. To
raise the parish, make it more vibrant, we focus on the youth. It is a good way
for me to renew and revive the parish life."

Despite the name,
World Youth Day is open to all people. Often siblings or entire families
participate together. Those who don't make the trip to foreign lands can pray
for the pilgrims who do.

"We put it up on one
of our wooden cabinets in the kitchen/living area, so we had to walk by it
every single time we walked through the house. It was kind of like a reminder
that it's coming and to get prepared," said Danielle Kline, 17, from St.
Brendan's.

St. Brendan's youth
group, the Underground, have also held lock-ins, adoration and reconciliation
opportunities to help the parish prepare.

Courtney Nowacki, 19,
St. Brendan's on the Lake, Newfane, keeps the icon where she will see it the
often.

"I put in on my dining
room table where it mostly stayed, because that's where I do all my homework,"
Nowacki said. "It was definitely very nice having it there. It felt like I was
getting ready, I was getting prepared, it was coming. I can't wait for it."

Jim Cantella, 27, will
be going with his father and sister. He set the icon on his dinner table.

"For mealtime it was
always the center of the table," he said. "We prayed in front of it. It was the
focal point. It brought everything back to center. So, prayer became a bigger
part of our day. Our ritual with our son was to say the same prayers with him
before we set him in his crib. Afterward, after we didn't have the icon
anymore, we became more mindful of it, when we sat down before every meal you
were grateful in that mentality of appreciating what you have."

St. John the
Baptist in Alden received the other cross and icon, and plans to pass it along
to the homes of about 10 of the parish's 19 pilgrims on a weekly basis.

"I hope this will
prepare them spiritually, but that they would pray as a family, they would pray
for our pilgrimage, and because Mary is there, it will open up their home
spiritually to whoever comes to their home," said Jean Czerniak, youth minister
from St. John's.

Czerniak came up with
the idea of sharing it with her pilgrim group after seeing the effect the
pilgrim statue had on her family.

"I've had the Our Lady
of Fatima (statue) at our home; our home schooling group would do that,"
Czerniak said. "That was very powerful for our family to have the statue of Our
Lady of Fatima and pray. Do you know what the neat thing was? People would come
to our door, they'd come in for a visit and they'd end up in front of the
statue and we'd pray the rosary together. When you open your home, or you have
it at your home, God's going to do some mighty wonder and he's going to open it
up to the rest of your neighborhood and community. He's going to touch other
people, not just your family."

Brandon Adkins, St.
John's assistant youth minister, carried the icon during the May 14 walk from
St. Brendan's on the Lake to Fatima Shrine to share it with the other pilgrims.
He will also carry it during the foot pilgrimage in Krakow to Campus
Misericordiae, where Pope Francis will celebrate Mass.

Interestingly, the
cross and icon have their roots in another foot pilgrimage. A year ago, Father
Michael Czyzewski, OSPPE, administrator of Corpus Christi Parish in Buffalo, walked
from his home diocese of Radom, Poland, to the Jasna Góra Shrine in Czestochowa.

"This
is six days walking," said Father Czyzewski. "On the second day, I met Bishop Henryk
Tomasik from Radom. He is in charge of World Youth Day in Poland. I tried to
make contact with him. One week before the pilgrimage, in my hometown parish,
was this kind of cross. I asked the pastor of this parish and explained to me
that he received this cross from the bishop of Radom. When I had the chance to
meet him, I tried to make conversation. I ask, 'Bishop, listen, I am from
Buffalo and they know some people who will go to World Youth Day celebration
and to see the pope. Would it be possible to receive from you the cross like
you gave to the parishes in the Diocese of Radom?'"

At
the end of the walk, Bishop Tomasik found Father Czyzewski among a
crowd of 300 priests and offered him four crosses, which were shared and blessed
by members of the crowd.

"I gave the
opportunity to the people to touch the cross and the icon. It was from the
beginning of the group almost to the end. So many people touched the cross and,
of course, pray for the people of Buffalo," Father Czyzewski said.

One cross was given to
the Pauline Fathers in Manhattan and another to Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine in
Doylestown, Pa. Father Jozef Dudzik from St. Brendan's on the Lake Parish in
Newfane also received one for the group he will take to WYD. The last cross sat
in Father Czyzewski's
office for eight months, before it made its way to St. John the Baptist Parish
in Alden through a friend of a friend.

The cross and icon are
modeled after the official World Youth Day Cross St. John Paul II given to the
young people at the first World Youth Day in 1984. They have traveled around
the globe from one WYD site to the next.